Bullets and Crosses
by FalseAdvertising
Summary: The Kingdom of Khalidor is home to magical users known as Gun Slingers and a struggle exists to determine the strongest of these gunners. When swordsman Jin gets involved with a powerful Slinger, he finds out more about himself than  ever before.


Scroll I

The End Begins!

"_In the land of Khalidor, there dwells many with magical abilities that allow the use of many things and access to tremendous powers. Gun Slingers, or sometimes just 'Slingers', are the most feared among these people. They are powerful magic users who infuse the bullets of their guns with magic and are known to be able to draw them faster than any other gunner. There are two categories for which a Slinger may be placed, depending on his magical ability and style. 'Celestials' is applied to those gunners who use their magic guns to summon spirits to do their bidding and are pretty rare to come by. 'Elementals' are given to those who prefer a more direct approach and instead use bullets that are infused with nature, making them the more common of gunners. A decade ago, a struggle sparked between Slingers to see who was the strongest of them all and who will ultimately rule the known world. Today, this fight still rages on as the Star Slinger, the most powerful gunner in the world, has yet to be determined."_

Jin smiled as he closed the book and leaned back in his chair, turning his head to look out the window beside the table. The great capital of Alitaera looked back at him in all it's refined and cultural beauty. A place of vast knowledge and art, the city was originally built by scholars who were looking for a simple monastery to teach nearby villages different things and how to write. The monastery became ever increasingly popular and pretty soon, people began to build more and more homes around it until soon, it turned into a small settlement. Over the course of the next two hundred years, it went from a little wooden temple to one of the largest cities on the continent.

_Gun Slingers, huh..._

Though he was born with the necessary qualities of a Gun Slinger, Jin had only ever used a magic gun once. It was when he was a little boy and he lived with his parents in a small town up north of Alitaera. It had been a stormy night and everyone was closing up shop to head home. Jin's father had recognized his son's ability since he was born and on that very same night when Jin turned eight, his father decided to test his power. He had given him his magic gun, as he was a Slinger himself, and asked Jin to concentrate all his feelings into the gun when he fired it to see if he could follow in his father's footsteps. Jin's mother, of course, wasn't very happy about the idea of having her son grow up to be a potential killer, but she kept quiet and didn't say a word. Jin took his father's gun in his hands and even to this day, he could remember how heavy it felt. Consequently, he had more magical ability than he knew how to control and when he fired at the fireplace, the ensuing explosion consumed the house in flames. Only Jin made it out alive that night. Ever since then, he vowed never to use magic again, no matter what the situation, and always use his non-magical abilities to help instead of destroy.

Standing up, Jin put the book back on it's respective shelf and left the library. The warm sun felt good on his skin as he stepped onto the busy street and headed south. Numerous shops lined the buildings on either side of him, varying in wares from magic scrolls and items to fruit and wine. Basic stores you could find in any city, really. It was spring time, which meant all of the flowers were starting to bloom and people were shedding their winter attire for something more flexible and airy. It was Jin's favorite time of the year. The smell of the fresh flowers, the happy laughter of people and the bright sunshine never ceased to put a smile on his face.

"I'd like to buy some fruit please." He said as he stopped at one of the shops and grabbed a bag of apples. After paying for it, he continued on to an arched bridge which spanned across the main river running through Alitaera and admired the view from the top. Modai Castle could be seen in the center of the city, standing tall and proud as if to proclaim it's greatness to anyone who laid their eyes on it. The royal family ruled over Khalidor from there and because of this, it was impenetrable. It's walls had never been breached in all the years it stood and quite a few invading armies have tried. Pulling an apple out of the bag and biting into it, Jin began walking down the opposite slope of the bridge. Since he had arrived in the capital only a week before, he was still prone to getting lost quite easily and proved it. He stopped at an intersection decorated with a large fountain that was surrounded by a small garden and looked in each direction. At the moment, he didn't have a destination. He was just planning on walking around and seeing the sights, but if he couldn't even get to the first, then it was going to be hopeless.

"You appear to be lost young man," An elderly lady commented as she waddled up to him with her cane. "Where are you heading?"

"Ahh.." Jin pulled out a list of sights to see from his pocket. "I guess that would be the Royal Gardens."

"A popular tourist spot...I'm guessing you're new in town."She eyed the swords on his waist in slight caution. One sword on his right and two on his left.

"Yeah. I don't plan on being here much longer, so I thought I could see the sights while I'm here."

The lady stared for a minute, then smiled and pointed down the street on the left. "Follow that all the way to the church with the red door, then turn right and go up the hill that's there. The gardens will be at the top."

"Thank you."

Jin bowed to the old lady and headed down the street, eager to see the rumored beauty of the gardens. He quickly made it to the church, which was surprisingly large and archaic looking. It's large red door seemed out of place against the grey rock around it, but it wasn't something that Jin was going to spend long nights thinking about, so he turned right just like the lady said. He quickly ran up the hill and reached the gates to the gardens, which were more like gates to the castle than to a bed of flowers. Jin walked through the gates and gaped at all the flowers that were spread out as far as he could see past the patches of trees that spotted the area. The smell of freshly bloomed roses and daisies hung in the air. It was probably the most beautiful scene Jin had ever seen, and due to his lack of a permanent home, he saw a lot of places.

"A..amazing!"

The feeling was short-lived as a sudden explosion rocked the ground and nearly threw Jin to the ground. Smoke rose up just on the other side of some trees where the apparent blast had happened.

"What in the world..?"

He wasn't sure if he should go, or leave it to the local authorities to handle. But the creeping fear the someone could be hurt and need his help was enough to persuade his decision. Reluctantly, Jin took off towards the smoke. It only took a few seconds to reach the trees and another few to get through them. Once through, he froze at what he saw.

In the field of flowers in front of him stood a handful of menacing-looking men wielding guns of various sizes and in between them and a large crator on the ground a few yards away, was a lady. She was kneeling down and smelling some roses despite the men around her.

"Still want to ignore us now?"One of them snarled, witth a large green mohawk and piercings all over his face. "We are Elementals, missy!It'd be in your best interest to come with us!"

The lady only picked up a dead rose that lay beside the crator and twirled it in her hands. She didn't say a word, which only seemed to fuel the thug's ever increasing anger.

"Oi! Don't you know who we are?We are the Black Gunners!The strongest gang in the capital!"

Again, no response from the lady now infuriated him.

"That's it! You're going to pay for your stupidity, wench!"

He stormed forward towards the girl, waving his pistol in the air. _T...This is bad! She's in trouble!_ Jin bit his lip as he contemplated what to do. Not only was he outnumbered, but they also had guns, which gave them the advantage of long range options while he only had melee options. But then again, the girl was in danger as the thug grew ever closer to her with malicious intent practically dripping off of him. Remembering that he had vowed to protect anybody in danger with his swords, Jin dropped the bag of apples and put his hands on the hilts of two of his swords. In the next instant, he took off. One thing about Jin was not only was he capable with a sword, but he had also trained himself with weights so that he could sprint at near inhuman speed without the weights on and luckily, today he wasn't wearing them.

The thug barely had time to glance at the newcomer before steel was flashed and his gun went flying out of his hands. He yelped as he grabbed his bruised hand and stumbled backwards, gritting his teeth in fury and confusion.

"Who the hell are you?"He shrieked as he glared at Jin, who stood between him and the lady with two of his three swords drawn.

"Just a wandering traveller.."

"How..dare you interfere with the Black Gunner's business!How dare you strike me!Too bad for you, those swords won't do you any good!" The thug turned to his gang. "Make mince-meat of this guy!"

_I didn't think this through.._ Jin swallowed in fear as the thugs howled and loaded their guns, all aimed at him now. He was preoccupied thinking of how he could get out of this mess and failed to notice the lady behind him smile as she twirled the dead rose between her fingers.

"You're pretty fast, kid..." She said as she slowly stood up, dropping the withered flower to the ground, and turning to face the commotion. Jin glanced back at her and got his first look at her. She was one of the most beautiful ladies he had ever seen. She had long, pink hair that was scraggily on the bangs and top, and turned curly halfway down to her chest. Dark grey eyes and a smooth complexion, she almost seemed to radiate. She wore white sleeveless shirt that had a tall popped collar and had a small metal shoulder guard on her left side. Jin nearly blushed at how short her black skirt was and she had a crimson draped skirt-cape hanging off the backside. Her black boots were knee high and on her right thigh was a holster with a rather large gun in it.

"I..I..uh.."Jin was speechless, half out of awe and half out of embarrassment.

She giggled a little and then walked up to him, giving him a peck on the cheek which caused him to turn beat red.

"You're cute, and chivalrous, but I can handle myself."

Leaving the awe-struck boy to stand there, the lady stepped forward and faced the thugs, who still had their guns poised.

"It's me you guys are after, right? So let's leave this between us."

The lead thug snarled his lip at her. "So you finally speak. I was beginning to think you were too scared to move!"

"Scared?Hardly...I'm more likely to be scared of a butterfly than of a coward like you, who has to rely on numbers to win a fight." She smiled.

"You little...!Fire!"

Jin swore and quickly ran towards the lady, who stood right in the line of fire, just as the gang opened fire. Bolts of lightening sprung from their guns and came barrelling towards her. But what happened next, he did not expect. Instead of moving, she drew her gun in the blink of an eye and fired a single bullet. Instead of lightening coming out, the bullet glowed white and exploded in a bright flash which caused everyone except her to cover their eyes. Out of the flash materialized the outline of a star, which almost sparkled in the sunlight, and absorbed the bullets from the gang's guns. Everyone gaped at it, as he had never seen anything like it, while the lead thug backtracked a few steps.

"Y...you're a Celestial?"

The lady grinned. "It would appear so."

_A Celestial...right before my eyes.._ Jin stared in awe.

Then, the star began spinning so fast it almost looked like a solid circle had taken it's place. A loud rumbling noise echoed through the air and suddenly, a large red claw shot out from the spinning star. Slowly, limb by limb, the creature climbed out until it stood as tall as a tower and Jin gasped at what he saw. _A...dragon!_ It was a large red scaled dragon with large wings and spikes along its back to its tail. Glowing yellow eyes scanned the area and finally settled on the thugs, who were cowering in their boots.

"A...a dragon?"The lead thug stuttered, backing up only to fall onto his butt and then pointed at the lady. "I..I've heard of you..! The only Celestial Slinger who has enough magical power to summon living dragons and bring the undead back to life!Y..you're...The Lily Tiger With Coal for Eyes, Satellizer le Vascou!"

The lady, Satellizer, winked and snapped her fingers. "Bingo."

"W..we're sorry!We..I didn't know..!"

"Tch, tch, tch," She shook her head. "You must be punished for your crimes."

As if receiving a message only it could hear, the dragon kicked up on his hind legs and let out an ear piercing roar that must've been heard for miles around. It reeled back its head as the thugs turned and fled, but unfortuantely for them, fire poured from the dragon's mouth as he dropped its head again and incinerated most of the gang in one sweep, leaving nothing but ashes.

_S..such power!_ Jin swallowed hard as he holstered his swords.

The lead thug was the only one left, covered in burns and howling in pain on the ground. Satellizer walked over to him and put her gun to his head.

"P...please spare me!"He begged.

"I'd be doing the world a favor by getting rid of you."

She ginned slightly and cocked her gun, gripping the trigger with her finger.

"Stop!"

Before she could fire, out of nowhere, Jin slid in between her and the thug with his arms opened.

"What are you doing?"Satellizer frowned at the boy's intervention.

"You can't kill him!"

"Why not?He's the one who tried to kill _us_, remember?"

"Though that is true...even so, it's not right to take another person's life!"

"Are you crazy?We don't exactly live in a world filled with happiness and sunshine, kid. We need to do what we must to survive, and that involves killing those who try to kill us."

"I believe the world can be changed..."Jin said, meeting Satellizer's grey eyes with his own blue ones.

"You've got to be kidding me. Do you actually think like that?"

"You can do anything you put your mind to. When you fight for something you believe in, nothing is impossible."

Silence fell over the two as Satellizer eyeing him up and down as she sized him up. At first, she didn't know if she should feel sorry for this poor naïve boy or laugh at him. She searched his eyes for some kind of hint at a joke, trying to find some crack in his seemingly innocent charade and bust it wide open, but all she found was determination and a speckle of fear. She smiled softly and retracted her gun, holstering it.

"Fine, have it your way."She shrugged and turned around as the dragon faded away. "Leave him to the Royal Guard. They're almost here anyways."

Jin turned around and sure enough, saw dozens of armed guards charging up the hill to the garden.

"I'll be leaving now. Don't plan on being here when they arrive."Satellizer said and quickly began running in the opposite direction.

Without knowing what else to do, Jin reluctantly ran after her, though he didn't know why he was running away from the authorities when he did nothing wrong. But given the situation and the mess, he doubted they would listen to reason. Besides, he was curious about this lady.


End file.
